House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday he is still waiting for the White House to respond to the GOP’s letter requesting detailed information about President Obama’s $1.9 billion funding request to fight the Zika virus.
“There are many questions that we’ve been asking so that we can make sure that taxpayer dollars are spent correctly and wisely,” Ryan said Tuesday after meeting privately with Republican lawmakers at the party’s headquarters near the U.S. Capitol.
“We still have yet to get answers to those questions,” he added. “When we get sufficient answers to those questions, then we’ll take sufficient action.”
White House officials and Democrats have criticized the GOP for not taking up the request, which Obama said is needed to help study vaccines and ways to prevent the mosquito-transmitted illness. Zika has been linked to severe birth defects in unborn children.
Republicans say they are wary of providing new federal money and instead directed the White House to use about $600 million in unspent funds that were intended to combat the Ebola virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned in recent weeks that Zika is more potent and dangerous than they initially believed, increasing the urgency on the funding solution to be resolved.
“There is a sense of urgency,” Ryan said. “That is why we pushed the money that was already in the pipeline out the door as fast as possible for Zika. Then, we asked the administration a whole number of questions about how this money needs to be spent, and the administration still hasn’t gotten back to Congress.”
Last week, a White House spokesperson told the Washington Examiner the administration has already provided a detailed request in a 22 page letter officials sent to Congress in February. The White House has not yet responded to a request for a comment on Ryan’s latest statement.
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said money meant to fight the Ebola virus should not be redirected to combat Zika. There have been no new cases of Ebola recently in the United States and afflicted countries in Africa have largely stopped the spread of the disease.
“The Ebola crisis still exists,” Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. “It will rear its ugly head again.”
